Wildlife Week is celebrated every year from 2nd to 8th October 2022. In 1952, the Indian Board for Wildlife was established and it was decided to celebrate one week of awareness activities to spread the message to protect all kinds of fauna in our natural habitats. The aim of the Wildlife Week is to highlight the issues related to conservation of wildlife and celebrating the uniqueness of various kinds of animals.
Today, our wildlife is under severe pressure from shrinking forest cover; degradation of habitat; ever-increasing man-animal conflict; developmental work; poisoning of our soil and waterbodies due to use of pesticides, insecticides and non-organic fertilisers; rampant mining; construction of large hydro-electric projects disrupting the natural flow of our rivers; shifting weather patterns and above all, the political apathy towards wildlife and its conservation. Every single effort to conserve our wildlife, no matter how small or big it is, matters today.
A healthy balance is the only guarantee of the continued functioning of an ecosystem. The creatures that are on the top of the ecosystem maintain a viable balance by maintaining stable populations of the ones that come underneath in the food chain pyramid. However, nothing can be saved in isolation. When we say that we want to save our tigers, this can’t be achieved without understanding the role of all herbivores that form the diet of the tiger. The termites living underground need equal protection, if we want to achieve our goal of saving the glorious and visible elements of wildlife.
The Mahavan Project at Jim’s Jungle Retreat is a thriving habitat that supports diversity of wildlife. This is where a multitude of organisms interact with each other in relationships that range from symbiotic to mutualistic, parasitic or predatory. The Common Wolf Snake preys upon small frogs, geckos and lizards, ensuring a viable ratio between the populations of these creatures and their prey species. Similarly, the beauty of a sunbird’s plumage can’t be truly appreciated without understanding the bird’s role in pollination of plants.
At Jim’s Jungle Retreat, we celebrate Wildlife Week by taking a pledge that we’ll always stand for the preservation of habitats and conservation of all forms of wildlife that they support.